Okay, okay…I hate smart-alecks who say “I told you so”– and now I’m one of them.
During my twenty-one years as a university professor, I constantly talked (well, ranted) about the American public’s lack of civic literacy–Americans’ gob-smacking lack of knowledge of our national history and constitutional structure. I established a Center for Civic Literacy at IUPUI (now IU Indianapolis), where researchers documented the gaping holes in public understanding of even the most basic elements of the country’s legal and political structures.
That public ignorance is largely responsible for our ignorant, embarrassing and very dangerous President.
David French connected those dots in a recent “conversation” among opinion writers for the New York Times. The writers had been discussing whether people cared about Trump’s assaults on America’s most fundamental philosophical commitments, and French pointed to the elephant in the room (pun intended): civic ignorance.
I really wish those of us who follow politics very closely understood more, because there’s a another question besides “Do people care?” and that is “Do people know?”
French noted that one thing that distinguishes Trump from other presidents “is the extent to which he has weaponized and exploited civic ignorance.”
One of the things that I think we’re learning is how much the American experiment has depended on the honor system. That presidents of both parties, with varying degrees of truthfulness and honor, by and large, maintained American norms and did not explicitly weaponize American ignorance in the way that Trump has.
I think what Trump and the people around him have realized is that he can do wild things, like some of the executive orders that will thrill MAGA and, of course, enrage his opposition. But then outside MAGA, there won’t be a ripple that any of this occurred at all.
Those American norms were rooted in the political philosophy that undergirds the Constitution and the Bill of Rights–a particular approach to the purpose of government, and especially to the importance of restraints on the exercise of government power. When a majority of the population doesn’t understand that philosophy and/or the centrality of those restraints, would-be dictators emerge.
I have previously posted about the importance of language and the effects of imprecise usage. An example is the way in which the term “limited government” has been transformed from the meaning given to it by the Founders into a belief in small government. The early American public insisted on passage of a Bill of Rights as a condition of ratifying the Constitution, and that Bill of Rights incorporates their insistence upon limiting the power of the state. (And since we are talking about words and their usage, I will note that “the state” in this context means government.)
If most citizens understood America’s foundational principles, today’s media propaganda would be far less effective–audiences would recognize when claims being made are incompatible with America’s constitutional structure. Fox News and its clones rely heavily on the civic ignorance of their viewers.
In our system, government is supposed to be limited (not small). Among other things, it cannot tell citizens what they can say, what they can read, what they must believe. Government may not base laws on any religion. It may not interfere with citizens’ activities in the absence of probable cause. It must guarantee criminal defendants due process, and may not impose unreasonable penalties on those who are subsequently found guilty.
In the wake of the Civil War, the 14th Amendment added further limitations. Probably the most important was the mandate of equal protection–government cannot treat different kinds of citizens differently. (That amendment also included a provision that anyone born on American soil is a citizen–a provision that can only be changed by Constitutional amendment.)
The original Bill of Rights also explicitly limited the authority of the federal government by providing that powers not expressly granted to the federal government are retained by the states and/or the people.
Trump and his racist MAGA movement stand in opposition to virtually the entire Bill of Rights. It is very likely they have absolutely no familiarity with, or understanding of, that document. Worse, the election of Trump is evidence–as if we needed it–that the majority of Americans (especially those who didn’t bother going to the polls) were unaware of the degree to which a Trump victory would be inconsistent with America’s founding principles; evidently ignoring the campaign rhetoric that clearly pointed to that inconsistency and threatened those principles.
Too many Americans simply fail to understand that–far from making America great– Trump is intent upon destroying the genuine greatness to which America has aspired.
Professor-thank you for your words and thoughts.
Not to completely dismiss the public’s ignorance as responsible for our ignorant, embarrassing and very dangerous President but in my mind, it is the Republican Party and it’s unethical and morally bankrupt leadership over the past fifty years that brought us to this point. I encourage you to read today’s missive from Heather Cox Richardson for more.
Governments must adapt to constantly changing times. The United States has.
Our government is not too big, too small, too expensive, not expensive enough, too complex, not complex enough, or any of the things that radicals who go by the names conservative, Maga, or Republican have as a brain cramp. It’s what the founders planned for but adapted to all of the conditions the country has experienced since our founding.
Our founders gave us a republic, meaning we aren’t ruled by aristocracy (if we can keep it).
It’s up to us to restore the gift placetime bestowed on those living here today.
RichardAllen, I’d take it back to the day after Lincoln was shot. The Democrats, though, began by screwing up Reconstruction; they were the Republicans of that era.
Then, civics ignorance happens in our schools where underpaid teachers are asked to trot out our history and how government works. Okay, but so many of those teachers are also football and basketball coaches who could care less about civics. I know them first-hand, and they are the first to complain to other teachers and principals if their star athletes are failing other courses. Add to that the disinformation and “faith-based” nonsense that churches pour into our kids’ ears, and you have what we have.
How else could the dreadful Stephen Miller ascend to such “high” office?
Of course, we must also adapt, and we’ve failed at that. We are not sufficiently educated to the degree that human knowledge has grown. Knowledge grows; we must grow with it, and we have not.
Well said. I agree with the sentiment of today’s post, with the exception of this sentence:
“It is very likely they have absolutely no familiarity with, or understanding of, that document.”
I believe that the puppet masters who are pulling the strings of MAGADOGE understand the Bill of Rights and the Constitution intimately, and all of these actions are intentional. Each action is like removing a wall, one brick at a time, with the end goal being to end the constraints that the Constitution puts on their greed for power and wealth. When these cases get to the Roberts Court and the conservatives rule that it is all within the expansive powers of the President to do, it is game over.
You are probably getting sick and tired of me saying this, but it took Hitler 53 days to end Germany’s Constitution. The parallels of how that happened then to what is happening now are stunning. Step by step, brick by brick.
What can we do about it? Resist in whatever way you can, for as long as you can. Call, write, support organizations that are gearing up, make as much noise as you can so that, when the dust clears away and people read this history they will know that some of us tried to make a difference.
“Action is the antidote to despair”-Joan Baez
Government is the price of eggs or gas.
Better skill doesn’t help a rider on a lame horse.
Civic literacy is nice. But our constitution is a lame horse.
“General Welfare” is our constitution’s foremost justifying purpose.
It’s failing. It’s always fallen short due to baked-in privileges and abuse by powerful interests.
Most of the country recognizes things aren’t working as well as they might. Our constitution’s text (and amendments) and its implementation are too rigid to stay current or be anything other than fecklessly reactive proactive and are too prone to co-option by entrenched interests.
Both political wings are desperate to amend the constitution whether by text or by interpretation. Both seek to remove the heavy hand of contrary special interests. Each is frustrated by congressional gridlock and accepts the only apparent way forward as being government by executive orders – ie, by presidential decree.
MAGA has other massively problematic issues. But those aren’t addressed by civic literacy. MAGA’s other problems can only be addressed by somehow inculcating citizenry virtues – a communitarian service-oriented spirit, non-othering/non-tribalism, non-self-privileging, non-corruption/rent-seeking, submission to law, integrity & honesty.
So far,we have seen that the Constitution, since the only thing in it that includes a punishment is treason, will not be a deterrent to Orange Jesus. He knows that he won’t be impeached as long as the Republicans control the House. Even if the tables are turned in 2026 and he is impeached again, his lackeys in the Senate won’t vote to convict.
So, what’s next? Ignoring Court orders will be the final stake in the heart of our experiment in governance. How can he get away with it? The courts have no enforcement arm. They rely on the Executive Branch to enforce their orders.
As good as they were, the Founding Fathers were just as naive as they were “enlightened”. Since they all knew people like Aaron Burr, they should have known better.
I’m not sure what to say about the Democrats who failed to pass any legislation to correct these glaring deficiencies in the first two years of Biden’s term. It was number one on my hit parade.
The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution also contains Section 3, which stipulates that insurrectionists shall not hold federal offices, but it seems that section doesn’t count:
“Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
Civic literacy, national history and constitutional structure are all exciting, and current, topics.
One of the most common issues around our new 2025 administration is tariffs, about which we have heard many warnings. We know that our government has the right (Article I, Section 10), with the consent of Congress to issue “Duties on Imports.” We know that the inability of Congress to impose tariffs or duties on imports was a major weakness of the Articles of Confederation.
We recall that as our young country was trying to develop self-sustaining manufacturing industries, the British used predatory means to kill those industries as they developed. The British were trying to force the American nation to remain in “colonial” status, flooding the U.S. market with select manufactured goods priced so low that the British monopolized all the sales and drove the American industries out of business.
We understand the utility of that technique today in recalling the 1984 food aid a benevolent America gave to the nation of Haiti, giving Haiti access to inexpensive rice produced by American farmers. Conspicuously, this rice was given in exchange for the Haitians lowering their rice tariffs to the lowest level in the Caribbean. The rice shipped to Haiti was stamped “Miami FLA.” By 1987 the Haitian farmers’ volume of locally grown rice had shrunk to the point that Haiti could no longer grow enough rice to meet its own needs.
In 1992, a new American administration apologized for forcing Haiti to lower its rice tariffs, and acknowledged that Arkansas businesses profited at the expense of Haitian rice farmers.
Students of U.S. history may recall what President George Washington wore to his inauguration. It was highly symbolic, and a poke in the eye to the predatory British who sought to destroy nascent American industries. Washington chose a brown, woolen, suit, which was manufactured in Hartford, Connecticut. It was conspicuously not made of imported British textile manufactured in Britain.
We understand that all nations need judiciously-applied tariffs to sustain their own manufacturing, their own labor forces, and to preserve their sovereignty. It is a right firmly articulated in the U.S. Constitution.
Well, based on Facebook, Bill captured it perfectly. The masses boil things to their simplified version, which they can understand. Biden was responsible for “the price of eggs and gas. Trump will do better!” Period.
Since the Kennedys are in the news, I pulled out David Talbot’s The Devil’s Chessboard. It’s about JFK and his battle with the Deep State, which is run by Allen Dulles, a good friend of the Bush family. According to our “federal government,” Oswald murdered JFK. However, Oswald was deeply connected to the CIA, run by Allen Dulles. It’s all about our secret government (Deep State) that Eisenhower warned us about. Yet, there are still people today, including our newspaper of record, that ignore entirely the Deep State.
What’s the point, Todd?
Sheila writes about the “American norm.” Who communicates and establishes that norm for the people? If you want to understand that, I’d recommend reading Noam Chomsky’s books. He obliterated the media in the 80s. Here we are four decades later, and the propaganda machines have only prospered and are still “manufacturing consent for the masses.”
If anybody was paying attention the past few days, a huge RED FLAG event happened on CNN. They essentially relegated Jim Acosta to the graveyard shift to appease Trump. Wolf Blitzer, the biggest establishment ass-kisser in the universe, replaced him. Jim is now on Substack, where he can practice his journalistic skills and hold Trump accountable.
MSNBC did the same thing to Mehdi Hassan, who is now kicking butt as an independent journalist with Zeteo. The point is almost all of America gets their news from the boob tube, yet it’s 100% propaganda in favor of the state. Who runs the state? The oligarchy; they also own 90% of the media in this country.
The masses are grossly misinformed because the media is feeding them bullshit in between the oligarchy selling their products.
I looked at the New York Times takedown of RFK, Jr. this morning and compared it to the confirmation of Pete Hegseth, a drunken woman abuser, and it’s not even close. They quoted Caroline Kennedy verbatim, and she’s one of the most prominent establishment drones on the East Coast. LOL
Hitler held the German masses in low regard, as does Trump, for good reason. The establishment (American norm) has intentionally undereducated automatons to be working stiffs while defending the billionaire oligarchy that steals from workers, gives to shareholders,and then lines their own pockets. Workers applaud! LOL
“Thank you very much for the screwing. Can I have another!”
Greg. In your last paragraph you say that we should somehow inculcate citizenry virtues. That would be civic education. Not just memorizing things like how many senators a state can send to congress, but explaining (as Sheila frequently and brilliantly does) the rationale behind our Constitution.
Our Constitution is not too rigid, nor is it too lax. It has a built-in provision for amendments which allow it to adjust to changing times and conditions without being subject to passing fads and fancies. It has built-in checks and balances. It establishes an independent judiciary. It guarantees equal protection under the law. The Constitution is not the problem. The problem is that we, the people, do not understand and support it. We allow it to be ignored and violated when it seems to suit our purposes. That is what true civic education could have prevented. If it is a lame horse, we are the ones who have hamstrung it!
IMO, most are willfully ignorant. As long as their perceived entitlement to privilege and power is maintained, they don’t need or want to know how it may adversely affect others.
Access to information presents itself 24/7 in any variety of ways these days. To claim ignorance makes for a convenient excuse to justify self-interest and privilege. They choose FN, QAnon, Breitbart, etc., when there are many other options available not only to understand and educate themselves but to verify the accuracy of information. Too busy is nonsense when you see how many nave their noses stuck on their phones playing games and watching reels. It is a choice. Period.
Young’s FB post about how his interview with RFK Jr. yesterday should urge every thinking person in this state and nation to contact his office and let him know that he is not representing his constituents nor is he living up to the oath that he swore both as a Marine and as a Senator.
https://www.young.senate.gov/contact/
Civics was a required class when I was in 8th grade. The YMCA sponsored Youth and Government programs. We were allowed to use our state legislators chambers when not in session. We wrote bills, presented them, passed or did not pass them. We used Parliamentary Procedure and had a parliamentarian sit in to make sure we were doing things correctly. Some of us volunteered as pages. It was a big deal and a great learning experience.
You are correct in saying that lack of this kind of knowledge is being exploited.
get up in the a.m. pour coffee, turn on phone, see messages,ads, etc, pick some, feed the cat, tube blaring about something, surf thru ads,messages, dress, find keys, start car,surf while you drive,slip into your little world away from harm, provided by a monthly payment to said ride. and onto the freeway to your employed/owned whatevers, talk relentlessly to anyone about their little padded world of self intrests and fullfillment services and card pay for the entitlements of big box, drink more coffee, make plans to ignore everything to ones own self satisfaction.. did i miss anything here?
and ya wonder why civics is not on their little minds.
Murdoch’s Faux News, and N.Y.Post, thrived on general, as well as civic, ignorance. These even convinced many people, some of them apparently intelligent, that they knew more than those who became called “woke.”
That 2 bit actor, and traitor, Ronny Reagan told the country that the government was the problem, and all too many bought into that idea, along with other lies he told, helping pave the way to today’s general, insistent ignorance.
I do not recall, specifically, what I was taught in the Social Studies classes I had in H.S., but the idea of a bum-kissing congress and SCOTUS was not a part of them.
And, now Rep. Luna, of Florididia, is kissing up to her Fuhrer, with a bill about putting his ugly face on Mt. Rushmore. WHAT AN INSULT!!!!!!!!!
On related topic, we turned on the tv at lunch time. We were listening to it as background noise. Then I heard the alert to a special report. To my disappointment it was our mentally-challenged president talking about the DC plane crash. For two minutes I listened to him speak unconvincingly about his heartbreak, etc. Then he made his turn to use the tragedy to his political advantage by blaming Obama and Biden for trying to diversify the FAA. It goes on and on. I thought at least one network would have cut away after it stopped being about actual information and became Trump drivel. But no.
I think it’s obvious and correct that the problem is an education one. However, I think the fundamental issue is not that the we need to alleviate the ignorance of the MAGA people. (Although we certainly do.) The problem is that we _can’t_ currently correct that ignorance. First, they are predisposed to reject it, and second, many of them currently wouldn’t care in the least.
The first step to a larger course correction must involve alleviating their _fears_, about modernity, their prosperity, the world at large, the people around them–especially those different from themselves. As I said, this absolutely involves education. Only then can other ignorances be addressed, and progress be made.
And it generally goes without saying, but the GOP, and FOX news and that media ecosystem, has spent decades building and solidifying the fears in those people. They do it with purpose and utter malice.
James: Yes, I am sick and tired, but not of your continued “rant” about 53 days in Germany. Your analogy is spot on and bears repeating. We have a creature occupying the highest office in the land, perhaps the world, who not only in the past admitted its admiration of Hitler, but also stated (to General Milley, I believe) that yeah, the dude did some really bad stuff, but look what he did for the German economy! As if, perhaps, everything else was somehow justified. And look where we are headed now.
The US has been taken over at the highest levels by post republican officials that are set on creating a dictatorship. Disregard for constitution and rule of law is their M.O. They are pushing authoritative dictates to see what they can get away with. When citizens pushed back on the freezing of federal funds they backed off.
Mike Braun signed a bill yesterday to have all Indiana counties cooperate with ICE and hold undocumented persons in county jails for three days.
Keeping the spotlight on each incursion that Maga attempts and voicing opposition to their breaches of rights is vital to block their mission.
Republican party stopped believing in democracy at least 20 years ago in my opinion. What is going on today is a manifestation of a long game propaganda campaign which unfortunately occurred at the same time the Democratic party stopped focusing on middle/southern America and just focused on winning the presidency and not paying attention as to what has been going on. Tea Party and MAGA has its start in middle and southern America (aka: fly over states) and not recognizing the anger of being ignored for decades is today’s results.
Correction. Braun signed executive order since House Bill 287 G was tabled for now. The order requires public safety funds to go to training police to do some of the work of ICE.
Peggy, regarding the inability of the Biden administration in passing legislation in the first two years, it was a numbers game. Although there was a Democratic majority in the Senate, it was too tight and hampered by both Manchin and Sinema’s unwillingness to vote with the rest of the Democrats (and Independents) and, more importantly, the total obstruction by ALL Republicans. There was NO bi-partisanship for the good of the country, NONE.
We have passed the tipping point when many Republican & all MAGA voters believe their ignorance and willingness to except lie after lie is every bit as valid as others education and quest for facts and that their ignorance is equal to or even more valid than yours because someone told them they are the real American patriots and the educated and informed are the liberal, communists plotting to destroy the nation while the majority of them live in states that receive more federal dollars than they contribute in taxes. Many in our nation have caught the Trump worm that’s eating away at their brains and have lost all expectation of any common sense or clear thinking.